Digital Cameras for Home and Office:
How to Buy a Digital Camera

Photography is one area increasingly affected by the Digital Revolution. In this article we'll discuss what you need to know to make smart choices when buying a Digital Camera. It helps to consider the fact that traditional film based photography is a Chemistry based technology. It's over 120 years old and is pretty much perfected; it won't be advancing much beyond it's present level.

Digital technology on the other hand is based on bits and bytes, and is not limited by Chemical restraints. Electronic digital imaging is young, vigorous, and rapidly advancing . The momentum for the future is with Digital. A 35mm slide holds the equivalent of over 10 megabytes of information and is currently superior to Digital camera images for many applications. However, there are many areas where digital cameras are now holding their own, quality wise. The improvement curve for digital cameras is steep and successful. There is no doubt that digital cameras will surpass analog chemistry based recording sooner, rather than later.

Now we'll consider the range of digital image file sizes and the evolution of consumer Digital Cameras.

File size equates with image quality. In the beginning, all digital cameras were expensive and quality was not outstanding. A common picture size was 640 x 480 pixels = 300 Kilobytes file size. This small file means low end picture quality, suitable for a TV screen maybe, or perhaps the Internet, but not so good for hard copy output ( something you can hold in your hand). Camera evolution has progressed so rapidly that this level is now the lowest level offered as an option on current cameras, to be used more for simple documentation, where picture quality is not critical.

Next up the ladder is a picture size of around 1280 x 960 pixels = 1.3 Megabyte file size. These are available thanks to the MegaPixel Chips ( sensor chips with the ability to resolve and record 1.3 megabytes of picture data). Such a file size is suitable for a 5 x 7 hard copy output, a portrait for a photo album for example.

Today's cutting edge is a picture size of around 5.0 Megabyte file size. These are the multi-MegaPixel Chips. These digital picture files would be suitable for an 8 x 10 inch or greater print, and more than suitable for TV or Internet use. Where will it all end? Well, its safe to assume Chip sizes will increase. 5.0 Multi-MegaPixel chips are top end now, however 2-3 Megapixel models offer some fine utility for most peoples needs.

Most cameras offered for sale today have a range of file sizes you can choose from at the time you take your picture. For some pictures you'll want High Quality, some medium, etc. These options allow you to conserve camera Memory, a topic we'll get to shortly.

First lets look at some Brands and Price points.

At the high end we have options like the Kodak DCS-520, Nikon DS-560, and other similar premium models by Agfa and Nokia. These models cost from $1,000.00 to $1,500.00 and up, and give excellent picture quality. File sizes range up to 2200 x 1700 pixels and may allow saving the images as uncompressed TIFF files, as versus the standard compressed JPEG files of many digital cameras.

A real high end choice would be the Nikon Digital Pro models. There you can get a file size of 5.0 Megs or more. Other top end features include the ability to shoot 4.5 frames per second (ecomomy cameras may shoot only 1 frame in 2-3 seconds). These cameras often feature a FireWire interface to download your picture data very quickly, a great feature. Price tag ranges from $1,500 - 6,500.00 and up.

More middle of the road brands are also offered by Kodak, Nikon, Agfa, Olympus, HP, Polaroid, Panasonic, Ricoh, Epsom, and many others. You have literally 100's to choose from in this range. Price points run from $450.00 to $800.00. Sales and economy models will get you in for as low as $250.00 to $400.00.

A few Tips on taking the picture:

  1. Lighting. Use lots! Turn on all available lights to improve the scene. Don't park your subjects in front of a window where they'll be back lit. They'll end up a dark silhouette against a bright background. Put your back to the window and have the subjects face you, thus allowing light to shine on them.
  2. Focusing: Use Manual focus. The camera doesn't know whats important in the scene. You decide, and focus manually.
  3. Framing: Fill the frame. Get up fairly close to your subject. This is especially important for digital images, where you want the limited picture information available to be on the subject, not spread over yards of background.
  4. Finally, watch for Blinks. If you see one, shoot it again!

From Camera to Computer:

Some early models used Floppy disks to transfer the picture file to the computer. This might be convenient in some circumstances, but has limitations regarding Memory availability. More recent solutions use data storage modules offering over 40 Megabytes of memory on replaceable cards or hard disks. With a couple of these cards or disks you can cycle through them just the way you would change a roll of film. (Newer models will soon offer 200 megabyte and higher memory storage cards from Sony and IBM). Some cameras offer Serial Cable connections to port picture data from your camera to your computer. These are rather slow however, and are being replaced in the market by faster Parallel Port connectors, often associated with Card Readers which drain data from a series of data cards which you may have filled on your last shooting session.

USB - Universal Serial Bus is a common download interface, with up to 10 x faster file transfers. FireWire or IEEE 1394 protocol is the top end transfer mode, currently used for Digital Video transfers. This may become the new standard in the not too distant future.

Processing the Image for Web or for Print:

A variety of Software is available to process your pictures. Professional top end packages like Adobe Photoshop cost around $800.00. Adobe Image Ready costs around $250.00. (Newer Photoshop releases incudes Image Ready). Paint Shop Pro costs around $150.00 and will handle most requirements. Photoshop Lite, and Photoshop Elements often comes as a "freebie" with your camera or scanner.

In terms of resolution, if your software interface is in lines or DPI use 72 DPI for images for the Internet, and 150 to 300 DPI for images to go to Print. Small file size is a benefit on the Internet since the larger the file, the longer it takes to download in a Web Browser. Use an FTP client (File Transfer Protocol) to upload your pictures to your website. Sample products are WS-FTP or Cute-FTP and cost around $30.00. You'll need password access to your server to upload the files. Use ASCI transfer mode for all Text files, and Binary transfer mode for your picture files. Now you're all set to take and process your photos, and post them to the Internet!

Now is a good time to buy a Digital camera. The ascending curve of Features and benefits is crossing the descending curve of price point very nicely just now. You should be able to get a digital camera that represents good value for money in the current market.

Buyer's Check List:

Within a given price range, use the following to guide your choice.
  • Chip Size: Do you want MegaPixel or Multi-MegaPixel.
  • Image Choice: Look for a range of Picture Sizes supported.
  • On-Board Memory: Hard Disk or Memory Card based, cost and capacity.
  • Download transfer speed: From slow to fast you have; Serial, Parallel, USB and FireWire.
  • Lens Type: Glass Lens, Optical Zoom, lens interchangeability are all benefits.
  • Camera Eyepiece: It will complement a digital viewscreen.
  • Battery Life: How many photos will it allow before needing changing.
  • TV Output: Lets you view your pictures or copy to videotape without having a computer handy.
  • Camera Size and Style: Your convenience and aesthetic sense should decide.

Good Luck and Good Shooting!


Online Resources:

Mark McLaughlin runs Best Color Video, a Video production and Website Design company in Victoria BC.
You may visit his website at http://www.bestcolorvideo.com